A plethora of tennis ball containers are presently known which are basically designed to elevate access to tennis balls and thereby obviate the necessity of the player to bend over to pick up balls. These containers comprise either a wire framework structure (basket or hopper), or an integral unit of basket/hopper and dolly combined. These devices are employed to decrease repeated bending movements of players in combination with articulation of the elbow joint. The movements necessary in tennis ball retrieval exacerbates the common ailment of tennis players known as "tennis elbow", i.e., irritation of the synovial membrane or joint rotary area, of the elbow.
The instant invention is an improvement in the tennis ball container art in that it provides a dolly which accommodates attachment of a variety of containers by virtue of a plurality of adjustment means. This device, when full, allows ready and ample access to tennis balls. It is also capable of picking up the balls themselves, as will be explained. When considering the high number of tennis balls utilized in practice and/or training sessions, the efficiency of labor and physiology is a salient advantage. The instant device accomplishes the foregoing with an inverted T-shaped dolly having wheels mounted on its axle. Baskets are adjustably positioned and secured by an elongated, perforated, horizontal mounting bracket. The perforations are spatially disposed and dimensioned to allow passage of U-shaped prongs therethrough, the "U" capturing a portion of a basket framework and the ends of the prongs passing through the bracket and secured on its backside by threaded nuts. The prongs can be placed in either a vertical or horizontal axis relative to the perforations, or openings, depending upon the configuration of the basket and the optimal location to capture it's wire framework. The bracket itself bears a medial annular protrusion which is dimensioned to capture a substantial part of the shaft. The protrusion formed by this abutting relationship contains a screw bolt which tightens down to secure the bracket on the shaft. The bracket also abuts the framework of the basket, as mentioned above, and two-pronged securing assemblies mate with the respective basket framework and spatially disposed openings.
The basket is pushed along a tennis court or turf area and inclined forward when encountering a tennis ball or tennis balls. The grid on the bottom of the basket is dimensioned to allow passage of balls therethrough upon the application of slight downward thrusting of the dolly. Thus, balls are permitted to accumulate until the basket is filled.
The dolly itself is designed to accommodate a variety of basket sizes and configurations due to the simplicity of the dolly's supporting framework in combination with adjustable and versatile brackets.